Warren Daughenbaugh (A.K.A. Buddy D.) has served Penn State for 32 years and worked all the football weekends for the past 30 years! He is probably the only University employee to be fired and hired by Joe Paterno, all in the same day. Here is his story.

Delivery Service - Football Teams & Presidents

Warren started out at Finley Dining Hall with Housing. He then transferred to Fleet Services to drive buses and was responsible for delivering the football team to Beaver Stadium on game days. One night, Warren was the only person on duty when a call came in to pick up President Oswald at the airport. Warren was told to lock the doors and take the best car he could find. 

"I did exactly that...picked up President Oswald and delivered him to the President's house in Boalsburg. We had a great down-to-Earth conversation. It was a long conversation, too, because the airport was located at Black Moshannon back then."

Where Exactly is Birch Cottage?

Warren eventually landed a job at OPP and was told to report to Birch Cottage. Unfortunately, he had no idea where Birch Cottage was. 

"I figured it couldn't be too hard to find, but Birch Cottage is pretty tiny, and it took me an hour and a half, which is not a good way to start your first day on the job. At first I worked on the 2nd shift Labor Crew and we used jack hammers to take out cement walls. I eventually requested a building assignment as the Grade 9 in charge of East Area Lockers and stayed there for 15 years."

Getting Fired by Joe Paterno

"I couldn't have had a nicer guy to work for than Joe Paterno, other than the fact that he fired me the first night! I was asked to cover for the regular Grade 10 who was off. I went strictly by the book, did his job and mine at the same time. Al called me the next morning and said I had been fired by Joe Paterno and should come to Joe's office immediately.

When Joe told me I had been fired, I said OK, slid my chair back, and started to walk out the door. Joe said, 'son, don't you want to know why?' I turned around and told Joe, 'if you say I'm fired, I'm fired, and it's time to look for my next job.' 

Joe replied, 'now wait a minute, come over here and sit down. Tell me exactly what you did last night. I said I did exactly what my boss told me to. I was to cover the job of the Grade 10 and the 9 and I followed the frequency. Joe said 'what frequency?' I said the one in the janitor's closet. It tells you step by step what to do. I turned on the lights, swept the room, lined the chairs up, washed the black board, put new chalk and erasers down, turned off the lights and locked the door."

Joe Paterno took a deep breath and leaned across the table."Son, there's just one problem. You washed the board! I said, 'yup, just like it says in our instructions.' Joe said, 'you do not wash boards unless we tell you. We had plays written on that board and you erased the plays I wanted to use this Saturday!'"

Joe then told Warren to go get the frequency list. He looked it over and said, "You need to change these instructions! From July to January, there will be no board washing unless I tell you so." Joe then looked straight at Warren and said, "You're hired, and you can go out and get started now." Warren then said, "but I don't start until 5 o'clock. Joe said 'you're here, you can start now and Warren responded, "Yes, Sir!'"

We Have a Double VoBan

Warren has been assigned to Stadium prep work for 30 years. Prep work means cleaning all the rest rooms, the visiting and home team locker rooms, the media room, and the press box. It's a lot of work. 

"We worked the games, too, but didn't see much of them. We were under the bleachers and responded to blood calls from first aid or the police and we took VoBan calls. Voban is a nice word for vomit. It's a cat-litter material that sucks up liquids. During the game, we are in bathrooms, changing paper towels, pulling trash, and cleaning everything."

Usually the operation ran smoothly, but occasionally Warren had to face the dreaded double Vo-Ban. 

"One year we had a couple doused in vomit by someone seated behind them. The couple went and purchased new sweatshirts before returning to their seats only to be doused again. I got a call to go deal with the situation. We called security to remove the intoxicated person. Unfortunately, security never showed, and the doused husband turned around to let the fountain-head have it. Well, it turned out to be a female, and that's when I arrived. I was able to defuse the situation and remove the couple to a family restroom to clean themselves up. I ended up giving them my coat and my flannel shirt so they could finish the game." 

The couple tried to track down Warren to reward him, but Warren told Athletics that he was just doing his job and would remain anonymous.

The Game Must Go On

Warren once missed the first quarter of a game five years ago. His father passed away, and he had to go to the funeral on game-day morning. 

"When I got to the funeral home there was a huge bouquet of flowers from Joe and Sue Paterno. I'll never forget that gesture. However, there was work to be done, and I headed to the game. I told my supervisor that I might miss kickoff, but I'll be there for the rest of the game. It was easier for me to be with someone and keep busy in a time of grief." 

After the game Joe Paterno requested that Warren come to his office. 

"I went in and Joe said 'I'm sorry to hear about your Dad. You know you didn't have to be here. I said, 'well, I'm here.'"

Radioactive Cat Litter

A few years back a routine trash run to the County Transfer Station set off all the radiation alarms. 

"Al quickly began an investigation and asked what we thought might be the cause. None of us had seen anything unusual, just some bags of cat litter. Well, it turned out that the cat was sick with a thyroid condition and being treated with radioactive iodine. We have never looked at cat litter in the same way after that!"

Never Jump out of a Perfectly Good Airplane

Most of Warren's co-workers would be surprised to learn that he has made 100 parachute jumps out of military aircraft and many years ago spent months in a foxhole guarding the Berlin Wall. 

"We were supposed to be a peacekeeping force and never allowed to have real ammo, but those East Germans up in the towers had their rifles fully loaded. This made us a bit uneasy!"

Buckskins, Bears, & Sasquatches

Warren enjoys teaching hunter safety for the Game Commission and occasionally assists with game protection operations. He was once assigned to check out a rogue bear that was raiding a bird feeder. Another time he investigated Sasquatch sightings in Janesville, Pa. It turned out to be a young man in a Sasquatch costume. Warren turned him over to the Police for his own safety. Imitating a Sasquatch in Central Pennsylvania can be dangerous to your health!

Retirement Plans

Warren retired in early January. He plans to hunt deer, turkey, squirrels, rabbits, pheasants, and grouse in retirement. 

"It's been great fun working here! "